Imagine the following situation:
A 15 year old girl tells her psychiatrist that she’s pregnant. Furthermore, she has not told her parents, and is not going to. She also has no intention of aborting the pregnancy. What should the psychiatrists duty be in these situations? Should he be legally obligated/permitted to tell the parents since there’s a child-to-be who is at stake? OR, should he have to keep the secret to uphold her privacy?
I fail to understand how the child-to-be is at stake.
IANAL, but I think that priviliges can only be broken if someone is in danger, and if the child is going ahead with the delivery, I don’t see why the shrink has to tell the parents.
If I were the psychiatrist, I would strongly urge the kiddo to tell her parents, but that would be the extent.
-Soup
You think someone irresponisble enough to get pregnant at 15 is going to be a fit single mother?
And if she was raped? Would she still be irresponsible then? Or maybe her uncle did it to her after gaining her trust over the many years since she was a small child.
Just because she got pregnant doesn’t mean she’s irresponsible.
In my state, anyway, the doctor does not have the legal right to tell the parents. Consent is generally not required for care of teenagers regarding pregnancy, birth control, or substance abuse. The doc can encourage her to tell her parents, or to let him tell them, and I believe that he can refuse to treat her if she fails to do so.
Another interesting question, then, is whether or not the doctor should provide care for a pregnant teenager who does not want her parents to find out. I would be inclined to say yes; she would be more likely to delay or avoid prenatal care altogether than to seek care elsewhere. I don’t think I would take any out-of-the-way steps to keep the parents from knowing, as I might with birth control or substance abuse issues, but I would provide appropriate prenatal care.
We have a clinic at UK for nothing but pregnant teens, and there are a few who are not involving the family at all. For the most part, though, the mothers are right in there with them.
Dr. J
Psychiatrists and psychologists are now required by law to report child molesters, killers and rapists. At one time, the Dr./Patient confidentiality was sacrosanct, but lawyers put an end to that. If a child is under the age of emancipation, a psychiatrist, to the best of my knowledge, is required to tell parents of any potentially criminal or harmful activity that has been done to the child or to report same to the police.
It used to take an order of the court to get into patient records, and then the doctor alone would take the files into court and discuss them or parts there of. All in all, in my point of view, the new laws just mean that molesters and others, seeking help to stop, will avoid psychiatrists for fear of being arrested, which means they will go on, getting sicker and sicker until they start doing great harm or kill people.
The lawyers and courts screwed everyone there.
I’ve never heard this before. When did this law go into effect, and where?
A therapist (social worker, psychiatrist, psychologist
etc), is required to inform the proper authorities if a patient intends to commit a crime, is a threat to themselves or others, or if the patient is being abused in any way. Failure to act on such information is grounds for having their license revoked. In some cases, the therapist’s failure to act may be a crime.
On the other hand, breaking confidentiality in any other conditions (I may have forgotten one in my list, but) is against the law and also grounds for revoking a license. Telling the parents would violate confidentiality. It would also be pointless. The OP states that the girl plans to carry to term, chances are the parents will notice. The therapist would advise the girl to seek proper medical care or if a psychiatrist, provide it themselves.
If the girl admitted to doing drugs or drinking, the therapist could have her committed to a proper facility. The right rehab center would have medical staff to assure pre-natal care.
If the girl is clean and sober, things get murky. If she refuse to visit a doctor, does it constitute child neglect? If the law can be interpreted that way, then the therapist can act. If the law doesn’t apply, the therapist must wait until birth to call child and welfare services.
If the girl is seeing a doctor, taking pre-natal vitamins, and the rest, the therapist has no grounds to act. No crime is being comitted. The girl is not causing physical harm to herself or the fetus. The therapist may advise the girl how and when to tell her parents, but that is all.
After the birth, the therapist MUST have a more concrete reason than "She's fiteen years old." to tell child and welfare that she is an unfit mother. If the girl feeds, clothes, loves and cares for the baby, she does not fit the legal definition of an unfit mother. She would have to neglect, or harm the child for the state to intervene. If the girl lacks the finances to care for the baby, the state, county and federal governments provide many assistance programs. WIC exists solely to aid women who are pregnant or have young children.
The fact that the patient is 15, pregnant and has not informed her parents is not enough to legally classify her as unfit mother. She must either do something harmful to herself or the fetus or neglect to do something beneficial such as getting pre-natal care. Until that time, the therapist has neither cause nor reason to act. Depending on the patient, she may be a fine mother who raises a physically and emotionally healthy child.[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by The Fromesiter *
**
And what if she wasn’t? How many teens get pregnant via “conventional means?” I have no cite but I would think more than those by rape.
Or, if she was raped, does that some how turn a 15 year old rape victim/mother to be into the pillar of health and responsibility? The truth is that, in today’s society, 15 is just too young to raise a child on your own.
Oops, I was quoting Form, not myself, in the post above about rape.